Improvement in combined spades and forks



Patented July 15, 1873.

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4m PHOTO'UTHOGHAPH/C camfmsaamvs'spnacsss) Kira UNITED STATEs PATENT OFFICE.

EEBEE sToNE, OF GALVESTON, TEXAs.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMBINED SPADES AND FORKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 140,855, dated July 15, 1873; application filed February 17, 1873.

To all whom "it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HEBER STONE, of Galveston, in the county of Galveston and State of Texas, have invented a new and Improved Combined Spade and Fork; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, in which- Figure A represents a back view of the fork and sheath, the former being partly withdrawn from the latter. Fig. B represents the fork in perspective; and Fig.0 is a front view of the fork inserted in the sheath, producing an implement adapted to be used as a spade.

The object of my invention is to adapt a fork to be used as a spade; and it consists in a sheet-metal sheath or pocket adapted to receive a fork and be secured thereto, as hereinafter described.

The fork D may be of the ordinary or other pattern, and the sheath or cover E will, in all cases, be of corresponding form, and just enough larger than the fork to adapt it to receive it. A triangular piece, b, is cut out of the back of the sheath, and hinged at c, as shown in Figs. A O. The same has a rightangled flange formed on its upper edge, which,

when the fork is inserted in the sheath, forms the top of the sheath. Projections d are formed on the central upper portion of said hinged part, and on the front of the sheath, which are of semicircular form in cross-section, to adapt them to fit around the handle of the fork.

\Vhen the fork is inserted in the sheath, the ring a on the handle thereof is slipped down over the projections d, and thus the sheath is secured to the fork, and the same is thereby converted into a spade.

I thus provide, at a diminished cost, an implement which will perform the functions of both a fork and spade.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire'to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The sheath or pocket E, formed of sheet metal and provided with the hinged section b and projections (1, whereby it is adapted to be applied and secured to a fork by means of a ring, a, as shown and described.

HEBER STONE.

Witnesses D. O. STONE, CYRUS THOMPSON. 

